German Neo-nazis Enter Local Races

The extreme rightwing Republican Party, which many consider to be neo-Nazi, announced plans Sunday to run candidates in dozens of local elections next month in the federal state of Baden-Wurtemberg.

A party official, Peter Koehler, said in Stuttgart that the Republicans have put together an organization capable of effective campaigning in a wide range of communities.

The Munich-based party, which did surprisingly well in national balloting for the Parliament of Europe last spring, is headed by a former Waffen SS officer, Franz Schoenhuber.

It also gained seats in the West Berlin municipal legislature last winter, at the expense of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s ruling Christian Democratic Union and its coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party.